Attempted base stealer Craig Counsell was ruled safe, though, something that had happened 32 times in 41 attempts off Lo Duca this season heading into last night’s game against the Diamondbacks.

Replays conclusively showed Counsell should’ve been out, but Lo Duca wasn’t frustrated by that – or by his 22-percent rate.

“I struggled early (this year) throwing the ball,” he said before last night’s 1-0 Mets victory. “I think lately I’ve been throwing the ball really well.

“[Tuesday] night was unfortunate; it was a bang-bang play. Other than that, the last week-and-a-half, 10 days, I feel like I’ve thrown the ball well.”

Lo Duca was leading National League catchers in All-Star voting, but he was 18th in the majors out of 22 everyday catchers in throwing out baserunners. In the third inning Tuesday, he committed a throwing error trying to prevent Luis Gonzalez from moving up on a wild pitch.

A lot of times, the theory goes, bases are stolen off the pitcher. But Lo Duca refused to throw his pitching staff under the bus. He said they’re doing OK and have given him plenty of chances to throw out people.

“I don’t see it as a problem or anything like that, or something we’re concerned about,” Willie Randolph said.

Lo Duca, who was 13th out of 20 major-league catchers last season with a 24.6 caught-stealing percentage, said he ironed out some kinks recently while practicing with Mets bullpen catcher Tom Nieto.

On being a leading vote-getter in the All-Star race, Lo Duca said it was an awesome feeling. He joked, “I just called everybody I knew and said, keep voting.”

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Jose Valentin had six RBIs in his previous three games and 15 RBIs in his previous 14. He started at second base last night for the fourth straight game, but Randolph refused to say that he was the new everyday guy.

“Kaz [Matsui] is still in the mix,” Randolph said.

Valentin, who is still learning the nuances of the position (he hadn’t played there since 1994 before this season), said he hasn’t been told much by his manager.

“I don’t want to know, either,” Valentin said. “He’s the one that makes the choices.”

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Randolph said Alay Soler would get another start after allowing seven runs over five innings Tuesday.